Before you give a new customer 30 days: a 10-minute credit check with Companies House and AI
Bibby vendor research says 55% of SMEs had a customer stop trading or go insolvent in six months. A free 10-minute Companies House check, summarised by AI, before you offer 30 days.
Before you give a new customer 30 days: a 10-minute credit check with Companies House and AI
By Jason Sibley
A new customer has ordered, the work is pencilled in, and the email says "just invoice us, 30 days is fine". Spend ten minutes checking now, before you do the work and risk an unpaid invoice.
This is a practical habit, not financial or legal advice. For bigger amounts of credit, talk to your accountant or a credit reference agency.
Why check before, not after
Bibby Financial Services published its SME Confidence Tracker on 5 October 2026, based on research among over 1,000 UK SME owners and decision makers. Bibby sells invoice finance and bad debt protection, so treat this as vendor research: it has a reason to talk up the risk. The figures are still worth knowing:
- Bibby says 55% had at least one customer cease trading or become insolvent in the past six months, and 58% sa